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Shape Up! – Week 62

This is week 62 in my series of Shape Up! The weekly post on what I did over the last week in my quest to getting healthier.

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The news about sugary drinks has not been good in the last several weeks. According to researchers from the American Heart Association and the Harvard School of Public Health. Sugar-sweetened beverages contributes to more than 180,000 obesity-related deaths worldwide each year. This means about one in every 100 deaths from obesity-related diseases is caused by drinking sugary beverages. The United States had the third highest amount of deaths caused from sugary drinks. And Mexico had the highest death rates in the world caused by sugary drinks.

I believe most people have no clue how much sugar they are really consuming when they drink a sugary drink. For example; the American Heart Association recommends a limit of added sugar to no more than 100 calories a day for women and 150 for men. But the average 12-ounce regular soda contains the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar and has about 140 calories. The average American consumes around 80 pounds of sugar each year. Don’t you think that’s too much? Here are the average amounts of sugar in drinks from the Rhode Island Medical Society.

I have found some more interesting facts from the website http://fatsmack.org/. These facts show we have a problem of drinking too many sugary drinks.

One, 20-oz bottle of regular soda has about 16 teaspoons of sugar.

Teens consume twice as much soda as they do milk.

On an average day, 80% of youth consume a sugary drink.

A single, 20-ounce bottle of regular soda has about 16 teaspoons of sugar.

The average person consumes almost 100 pounds of sugar a year, with the single biggest source being sodas.

The American Heart Association recommends that the maximum daily intake of added sugars be no more than 4.5 teaspoons for teens aged 12-19.

Did you know, health costs of obesity in the United States are $147 billion annually? That’s like buying everyone in the U.S. an iPad 2.

No doubt we are drinking too much sugary drinks. Drinking nothing but water all the time does get boring after a while. But sugary drinks could be healthier. Most everything you buy processed has high-fructose corn syrup. You would be shocked how many products have this. High-fructose corn syrup is highly industrialized and has been shown to cause diabetes, obesity, and other nasty diseases. I wish foods would use other sweeteners like honey, agave syrup, raw sugar, molasses, and other natural sweeteners.

One huge tip I give to everyone! When you go grocery shopping, READ the ingredient labels! If you see anything with high-fructose corn syrup or any other ingredients you can not pronounce, put it back on the shelf. We need to be getting back to cooking in the kitchen instead of relying on processed foods. When I brew my own sweet tea, I use real sugar. I try to limit how many chemicals in foods I put in my body. And this is something we all need to be doing! Usage of high-fructose corn syrup has gone down in the last few years. Let’s hope that continues!

The last week, I have walked and eaten one meal a day. Being out of work for 21 months sucks! Here’s what I ate in the last week.

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Nathan Young’s about.me

Road, Weather, and News Junkie Geek

Hello geeks and nerds; let me introduce you to what I am. Nathan Young does a lot of wonderful things in the media world, from writing, photography, videography, and social media. My current home is the blog and website Geek Alabama. There I do everything from geeky/nerdy talk, event coverage, reviews, cooking, community coverage, promotions, and anything else to give any geek and/or nerd an organism.

If it’s anything any geek and/or nerd would care about, I am usually talking about it. From conventions, gaming, crowdsourcing, tech, movies, TV shows, comics, books, food, videos, apps, and more. If you are looking for articles anyone would love reading, you have come to the right place! If you are looking for someone who can cover events with pictures and videos, cover products and shows, speak at events, cover your products, or attend your conventions, consider me! Every geek and/or nerd from trekkies, whovians, and even bronies, already has!